Comparison

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes vs Daily Notes Planner 3

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes

This app offers a straightforward and aesthetically pleasing way to maintain a daily journal. Designed for users seeking simplicity, it avoids complex settings for an intuitive and stress-free journaling experience.

Highlights
  • Simple daily diary keeping
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Beautiful and clean design
  • Intuitive management
  • Stress-free journaling
Features
Read full description

○ For people like this ・People who just want to keep a daily diary in a simple way. ・People who want to use a simple but easy to use diary. ・People who are tired of using diary with complicated settings. ○ Simple and beautiful design It is designed to be a simple and easy-to-use diary. It has become such a sophisticated design that "pull" rather than "add" the function. It is an application that embodies "simple is best". ○ Easy to use Thanks to its simple design and no extra features, you can use the app intuitively. You can manage your diary in a fun and stress-free manner.

About

Daily Notes Planner 3

This app offers a simple way to organize your thoughts and schedule. It combines calendar-based notes with a folder system for easy retrieval. Sync your notes across devices in real-time for seamless access.

Highlights
  • Calendar notes organized by date
  • Folder and file system for notes
  • Real-time cross-device syncing
  • One-page note for temporary jots
  • Intuitive UI and search functionality
Features
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Daily Notes Planner 3 is the simplest notes app that satisfies all of your life's needs for notes, and much improved from Daily Notes Planner 2, it improves the UI and search and syncs your notes automatically, in real-time across all of your devices. As a much simpler calendar app than the built-in iCalendar app, Daily Notes Planner 3 allows you to type in plain-text-notes for every date (no complicated hourly scheduling or reminders here). Because notes are organized by date, you will know exactly where to look for when you reference them later. Tap on the date in the calendar to go into that date and record or reference notes. The dates with notes are highlighted in the calendar. "Folder Notes" organizes your notes with folders and files. Create folders and note files inside them. Also, you can long press any file or folder row to change its name. Also you can press "edit" button in the bottom to delete or rearrange rows. N.B. The two notes formats: calendar notes and folder notes would satisfy all of your life's needs for notes, and they are super intuitive to use. One more super tip: it is much easier to type your notes on your Mac so please check out Daily Notes Planner 3+ in the Mac App Store too so that you can edit your notes both from the Mac and the iPhone. You just have to log in with the same Email address on those devices to sync the same notes. "One Page Note" has just one page of note. If you need to jot something and don't want to save it permanently, this is a good place to put it. To transfer your notes from Daily Notes Planner 2, use the Mac version of Daily Notes Planner (it is FREE to download) and in the top menu, click "Cloud" -> "Save all notes to Daily Notes Planner 3". Your notes are tied to an Email address so if you login with the same Email address in multiple devices, they all will sync automatically, securely, and instantly. In fact, you could even do real-time corroborations with multiple people because notes sync so quickly. Privacy Policy and Terms: https://dailynotesplanner.com/privacy_policy.html

Screenshots

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes4 screens
Daily Notes Planner 34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Simple Diary, Journal, Notes at none against Daily Notes Planner 3's 3. Simple Diary, Journal, Notes also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 60%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Daily Notes Planner 3's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Daily Notes Planner 3 sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Simple Diary, Journal, Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simple Diary, Journal, Notes has 172 ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Simple Diary, Journal, Notes's written reviews are positive against 60% of Daily Notes Planner 3's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes ships an update fortnightly, Daily Notes Planner 3 every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Simple Diary, Journal, Notes versus Daily Notes Planner 3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimple Diary, Journal, NotesDaily Notes Planner 3
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (172 ratings) — better4.6 (27 ratings)
Positive reviews86.1% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings172 — better27
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFutoshi Niiho5th & 7th LLC

Customer experience

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes

All ratings172 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral3.5%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews108 reviews
Positive86.1%
Neutral4.6%
Negative9.3%

Daily Notes Planner 3

All ratings27 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

Bugs and requests

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Entries disappearing without explanation
  • Crashes or freezes after recent update
  • Issues with photo attachment and display

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow editing of existing entries
  • Display time of each entry
  • Ability to change font style
  • Option to print or export diary entries
  • Calendar view with ability to navigate between months
Show 1 more
  • Ability to add tags or categories to entries

Daily Notes Planner 3

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Simple Diary, Journal, Notes

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Daily Notes Planner 3

Subscriptions2
  • Go Premium Monthly Subs.$0.991 Month
  • Go Premium Annual Subscription$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Go Premium Permanently$19.99

Questions

Is Simple Diary, Journal, Notes free?
Simple Diary, Journal, Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Daily Notes Planner 3 free?
Daily Notes Planner 3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Simple Diary, Journal, Notes or Daily Notes Planner 3?
Simple Diary, Journal, Notes is rated higher. Simple Diary, Journal, Notes averages 4.8 out of 5 from 172 ratings, while Daily Notes Planner 3 averages 4.6 from 27 ratings.
Do Simple Diary, Journal, Notes or Daily Notes Planner 3 have ads?
Simple Diary, Journal, Notes shows ads; Daily Notes Planner 3 does not.
Which is updated more often, Simple Diary, Journal, Notes or Daily Notes Planner 3?
Simple Diary, Journal, Notes ships an update fortnightly, and Daily Notes Planner 3 every 4 days. Most recently, Simple Diary, Journal, Notes was updated on September 30, 2026 and Daily Notes Planner 3 on October 1, 2026.

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